The Story of Resistance and Resilience: We will survive. We will thrive.
“You will die. You won’t survive.” These are the words thundering in Armenian heads when remembering the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Every effort was put to exclude the existence of Armenian statehood, Armenian culture, or a single Armenian. These efforts proved to be useless. A nation as old as this world not only survived but recovered its statehood in 1918 and preserved it to this day. As the world continues to support the denialist agenda of Turkey with its silence and doesn’t condemn Armenophobic statements and actions of Turkish and Azeri presidents today, Armenians continue living with the survival mode turned on.
The true marker of resilience and strength of Armenians is being the nation that built a state after the Genocide. Living through horrors organized by inhuman beings, despair didn’t kill the Armenian soul.
“Go ahead, destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia,” said Armenian-American writer William Saroyan.
Azeri-Turkish Agenda From 1915-Present
In Western Armenia (modern Turkey), Young Turks started mass ‘deportations’ of Armenians in 1915. 1.5 million Armenians were tortured and killed by Turks because they wanted a homogeneous state inhabited by only bloodthirsty Turks. The historical homeland of Armenians to this day remains occupied by Turks.
Under the cover of WWI, Turks organized the Armenian Genocide, and the international community never adequately responded to Turkey’s crimes. Now, when under cover of COVID-19, Azerbaijan, with massive help and support from Turkey, started Second Artsakh War, we can see from the actions and speeches of both Turkish and Azeri presidents that denialism is what they stick to and that the Genocide is still in their agenda. Most of the territories of the Republic of Artsakh are currently occupied by the terrorist army of Azerbaijan.
“You will die. You won’t survive” are the thoughts in the minds of both of these dictators when thinking and talking about Armenia and Armenians.
We will survive. We will thrive.
Intolerance and hatred towards Armenians are the true identifiers of Azeri and Turkish societies to this day. Resistance and resilience are the true identifiers of Armenians. “We will survive. We will thrive” are the thoughts inside Armenian heads every time we open the map and see the neighbors of Armenia or look at the news and see Armenophobia all over Azeri and Turkish media.
106th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
On April 24, the world remembers the victims of the Armenian Genocide, and various world leaders release statements commemorating the innocent victims of the genocide.
“The Armenian Genocide showed the world the unconscionable cost of division, exclusion, and hatred. Canada vigorously opposes and condemns hate, intolerance, and xenophobia. … We continue to be inspired by the strength and spirit of the Armenian people in the face of unimaginable hardship, and look forward with hope to a more peaceful, just tomorrow,” said the PM of Canada, Justin Trudeau.
“On the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, all my thoughts are with Armenia, that suffered the hardships of history. In my mind I am with the Armenian people, the refugees who escaped the genocide, the refugees who were once hosted by France, whose descendants created our country. We will never forget.
As I undertook, starting 2019, April 24 has been officially recognized as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in France. Everywhere in France, despite the epidemic restrictions, the day included in our national calendar will be commemorated. More than any other day, on this April 24, our two peoples are united around the same memory.
Remembering the past, accepting the truth, paying homage to the dead, respecting the memory of the living is our duty to prevent forgetfulness, denial, lies. Being committed to your side throughout history, we are also committed to the future as your country goes through a deadly conflict in the region where too much blood has been shed. It is necessary to create a new page of peace, prosperity and reconciliation.
The struggle for justice, the truth that France has pushed next to you, will continue to push, because it is not only the struggle of the Armenians. It is the basis of the principle of fraternity of the French Republic.
On this day of sadness, but also of hope, when together we remember the terrible sufferings of the martyred people, France and Armenia are united by friendship and brotherhood,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
This year, on the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, US President Joe Biden officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. “Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring. Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination. We honor the victims of the Meds Yeghern so that the horrors of what happened are never lost to history. And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms,” said US President Joe Biden.
Statements Are Good Enough But Actions Speak Louder.
The Second Artsakh War (September 27, 2020 — Nov. 9, 2020), extensive aggression against the Republic of Artsakh, started by Azeris with the help and support of Turkey, destabilized the region. Torture, decapitation, and mutilation of Armenian soldiers and civilians was a common practice during the war. Azeris themselves would film and spread them in Armenian virtual communities to put more psychological pressure on Armenians and to make their compatriots happy and satisfied. To this day, Azerbaijan has not returned over 100 Armenian POWs.
The civilized world must condemn the criminal actions of Turkish-Azerbaijani dictatorial leaders and demand them to return all Armenian POWs and free the occupied territories. This would be the best way to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
